In her 18-year coaching career, Karen Barefoot has been a part of 15 winning seasons and an overall coaching record of 317-199. She is a proven winner that has made history in resurrecting programs, winning championships and producing success in the classroom and in the community. She became one of the youngest head coaches at the age of 22 and her passion for the game of basketball is contagious.

In just 15 years as a head coach, Karen Barefoot has compiled 12 winning seasons and has won two National Coach of the Year awards.

Just as she expects out of her players, Barefoot is an extremely active member of the community, being involved in the Lady Monarchs Hoops for the Cure, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Coaches vs. Cancer, "Barefootin' Night" to support Samaritan's Feet and visiting countless schools and starting the first ever ODU "Education Day" game, just to name a few.

She is also seen in the community as one of the top speakers in the Hampton Roads area, speaking for organizations, An Achievable Dream, school graduations and heavily involved in the Lady Monarchs annual golf tournament, which raised more than $45,000 in 2012.

In year two, Barefoot guided ODU to a 9-3 start in non-conference action which was the best start since the 1998-99 season for the Lady Monarchs. The team tallied 19 wins, an eight-win turnaround from the 2011-12 season, which was tied for 14th best nationally and earned a spot in the WNIT. Old Dominion finished in fourth place in the CAA and defeated eventual WNIT champion Drexel at home while compiling a 12-5 overall record at the Ted. Earning All-CAA Second Team honors was Shae Kelley, who was the only underclassmen to be named to any of the three teams. Jackie Cook became the 30th player in ODU history to score 1,000 points and was named All-CAA Third Team while Galaisha Goodhope earned a spot on the CAA All-Rookie Team. Barefoot also helped the Lady Monarchs succeed in the classroom as Mairi Buchan earned All-CAA Academic First Team honors while Ashley Betz-White was honorable mention. Buchan also earned CoSIDA First-Team All-Academic for the second consecutive year.

In her first season at Old Dominion, Barefoot raised the bar in the community, as the Lady Monarchs participated in more than 10 activities off the court. On the court, Barefoot guided Ashley Betz-White to CAA Rookie of the Year honors and helped Betz-White and Myeisha Hall earn All-Rookie honors. Senior Tia Lewis was named to the All-CAA squad, All State and earned a tryout with the WNBA's Washington Mystics while Mairi Buchan was named First-Team All-Academic and CoSIDA First-Team All-Academic.

Barefoot made her presence known on the recruiting trail at Old Dominion, as she signed the Virginian-Pilot Player of the Year, Galaisha Goodhope, and the Peninsula District and Daily Press Player of the Year, LaQuanda Younger. Also coming in during the 2012-13 season was Miami, (Fla.) transfer Stephanie Gardner, who in 2010-11, helped the Hurricanes to their first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular-season championship as well as junior college All-American Shae Kelley and earned as Ms. Colorado Basketball honors coming out of high school.

The Lady Monarchs brought in a top-45 nationally ranked recruiting class and the No. 1 class in the CAA for the 2012-13 season.

Barefoot, who hails from Newport News, Va. (Menchville High School), has a career head coaching record of 240-176, resulting in 12 winning seasons. Aside from Elon, Barefoot has also held the head coaching position at Division II Lenoir Rhyne University and at the Apprentice School.

Barefoot helped Elon reach new heights in 2010-11, as the Phoenix finished the season with a 20-13 record - the program's best season at the Division I level and only the fifth team in program history to reach the 20-win plateau. The Phoenix 11 home victories marked the most home wins in a single season in the Division I era, while the team's postseason appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational was the first since joining Division I. Elon recorded its 20th win of the season in the WBI. Barefoot also led Elon to 12 victories in SoCon play, doubling their 2009-10 total and tying the 2003-04 squad for the most SoCon wins in a season.

Prior to coming to Elon, Barefoot was an assistant coach at Old Dominion, where the team compiled a 77-23 record, won three CAA Championships, and was a perennial top-25 program. In 2007-08, ODU advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, defeating 12th-seeded Liberty University and fourth-seeded Virginia, which to this day is one of the most memorable games in the history of the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The Lady Monarchs completed 2007-08 with a 31-5 record. Along with its 17th consecutive Colonial Athletic Association crown, ODU earned a ranking as high as 11th in the nation.

Barefoot originally came to Old Dominion after serving as the head coach at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne from 2001-2005. While at the NCAA Division II school, Barefoot captured the first South Atlantic Conference regular season title in school history in 2003-04 en route to claiming league Coach of the Year honors. Under her leadership, the team also grabbed the first SAC tournament championship in school history in 2002-03. That year, the team finished the season ranked eighth in the region following its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. In her first year at Lenoir-Rhyne, she led the program to its best record in 15 years, going 19-9 Barefoot coached Lenoir-Rhyne's first NCAA First Team All-American, South Atlantic Player of the Year and SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Additionally, under her guidance the Bears had four student-athletes earn All-SAC honors and 13 student-athletes named to the SAC Commissioner's honor roll.

Prior to her stint at Lenior-Rhyne, Barefoot spent six winning seasons at the Apprentice School after helping to initiate and develop the first-ever female athletic program in the 75-year history of the school. She started the program at the age of 22, becoming the youngest head coach in the country. A two-time NSCAA National Coach of the Year (1999 & 2001), she compiled a 102-41 mark and captured the 2001 NSCAA National Championship. Barefoot was also given the Peninsula Sports Club Special Achievement Award for winning a national championship. Under Barefoot, the Builders had seven NSCAA All-Americans and four Academic All-Americans. All-Americans Keisha Joseph and Taffey Thomas both played professionally in Finland. Joseph now serves as the Athletic Director at the Apprentice School.

Barefoot served one year building Cape Henry's high school program while starting up the Apprentice School.

As a former student-athlete at Christopher Newport, Barefoot still holds the recognition of being the first player in NCAA history, male or female, to score over 2,000 points and accumulate 1,000 assists during her career. Barefoot was the only player to achieve this height until Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot (who now plays for WNBA's Chicago Sky) accomplished the feat on March 21, 2011. For four consecutive seasons, Barefoot led the nation in assists and is CNU's all-time leader in assists and steals, while ranking second in scoring. She is the only player in any division to lead a statistical category all four years. She was a four-time team MVP and team captain and was also the Peninsula Sports Club's Female Athlete of the Year four-straight years. Barefoot was also invited to the free-agent camp with the Utah Stars in their inaugural season.

A three-time Kodak/WBCA All-American, she has been inducted into the USA South Hall of Fame, the CNU Athletic Hall of Fame and had her college jersey (No. 10) retired. Barefoot was just recently honored during CNU's 50th anniversary celebration as one of the school's Top 50 Most Distinguished Alumni.